Southwest Set to Produce First INEC Chairman as Tinubu’s Preferred Candidates Emerge

Southwest Set to Produce First INEC Chairman as Tinubu’s Preferred Candidates Emerge

 

With the tenure of Professor Mahmood Yakubu as Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) set to end next month, political attention has shifted to who will succeed him — and for the first time in history, the Southwest may produce the electoral body’s next helmsman.

 

Yakubu, first appointed in 2015 by former President Muhammadu Buhari and reappointed in 2020, is Nigeria’s longest-serving INEC chairman. His impending exit creates a vacancy that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is constitutionally empowered to fill, subject to confirmation by the Senate.

 

According to Section 154 (1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the president nominates the INEC chairman, while Paragraph 14 of Part I of the Third Schedule stipulates that the appointee must be at least 50 years old and of “unquestionable integrity.”

 

Tinubu’s Southwest Preference

Although the president has kept his choice close to his chest, multiple sources suggest Tinubu is inclined toward a candidate from his Southwest base. Among those reportedly under consideration are Justice Abdullahi Mohammed Liman of the Court of Appeal; retired University of Lagos professor and former INEC national commissioner, Lai Olurode; former INEC procurement director, Kenneth Ukeagu; current national commissioner for Information and Voter Education, Sam Olumekun; and Professor Bashiru Olamilekan.

 

Three of the top contenders — Olurode, Olumekun, and Olamilekan — hail from the Southwest, while Ukeagu is from the Southeast and Liman from the North Central. If a candidate from the Southwest is eventually chosen, it will mark the region’s first time at the helm of Nigeria’s electoral body and the first occasion a sitting president appoints an INEC boss from his own geopolitical zone.

 

Concerns Over Neutrality

Analysts, however, caution that such a move could spark controversy.
“INEC is a sensitive institution. Its head must not only be impartial but also be seen to be impartial,” one political observer told our correspondent. “If the president picks someone from his zone, opposition parties will interpret it as an attempt to tilt the playing field in his favour.”

 

Past leaders have typically avoided such appointments. From Tafawa Balewa’s choice of Eyo Ita Esua (South-South) in the 1960s to Buhari’s selection of Yakubu (North-East) in 2015, no president has ever installed an INEC chairman from his own geopolitical zone.

 

Historical Context

Since independence, chairmen of the electoral body have come from different parts of the country: Michael Ani (South-East), Victor Ovie-Whiskey (South-South), Ephraim Akpata (South-South), Abel Guobadia (South-South), Maurice Iwu (South-East), Attahiru Jega (North-West), and Mahmood Yakubu (North-East).

 

Only the Southwest and North Central are yet to produce an INEC chairman. Tinubu’s final decision, therefore, will not only shape the leadership of Nigeria’s electoral umpire but could also carry profound implications for the credibility of future elections.